Government plans closer ties with arms industries of Belarus, Kazakhstan

The Russian arms industry has developed a plan to replace its Ukrainian suppliers, lost during the latest crisis in this country, with companies in Belarus and Kazakhstan, an influential Russian daily reports.

Deputy PM in charge of the defense sector, Dmitry Rogozin,
earlier announced the Russian government would prepare a plan on
import replacement in conventional weapons and present it to the
President.

On Friday the mass circulation daily Izvestia reported the plan
was ready and will be presented as soon as Monday.

One of the major points of the document is a set of measures to
minimize the damage caused by the loss of many strategic partners
located in Ukraine. These enterprises, built during the Soviet
Era, continued to work alongside Russian weapons producers,
providing money and jobs for the Ukrainian economy. According to
the former Ukrainian government plenipotentiary for relations
with Russia, Valery Muntiyan, before the crisis about 400 Russian
defense contractors used materials and components produced in
Ukraine, and 70 percent of all companies supplying the Ukrainian
defense industry are located in Russia.

As the new Kiev regime started severing economic contact with
Moscow, President Vladimir Putin urged Russian officials to
ensure defense orders are fulfilled, and start replacing
Ukrainian suppliers with domestic production or imports from
other countries.

Izvestia quoted an unnamed source in the Presidential
Administration as saying that the government plan suggests
starting new defense enterprises in Russia and also attracting
partners from Belarus and Kazakhstan. The source noted that as
far as hi-tech production was concerned Russian companies did not
suffer from “critical dependence” from foreign makers.

The newspaper also quoted Deputy PM Rogozin as saying that the
government draft had already been approved by the Defense
Ministry and the Ministry of Industry and Trade. He said the plan
would not require any serious increase in funding, but most
likely the authorities would have to put up with delays in some
projects, such as the construction of modern combat ships.

Editor-in-chief of National Defense magazine, Igor Korotchenko
has estimated that Russian industry needs about two and a half
years to start making everything that had been bought from
Ukraine. He said the cost and inconvenience caused by the shift
would be well compensated for with future independence of
national weapon makers.